[iomatic]

Anyone have feedback on how this works in a design/ad agency atmosphere? I see this as a really great tool to come out with stunning presentation documents like proposals, briefs, and budgets.

In regards to copy revisions, however, may be a bit more challenging, where everyone in the corporate world uses Word (which once in awhile will still give me %#$& a bazillion font corruption errors). No need to import/export, I would think; just open in (ick) Word, and edit/copy/paste, etc.

Is this pretty much how everyone in this industry who has iWork uses it this way?

[bluedog]

The best presentations are not about what program you use. Although limitations may preclude making something exactly as envisioned.

I have seen Powerpoint presentations that are really great. I prefer doing my work in Illustrator or InDesign for multi-page work and then exporting to a PDF as a presentation if it is really about looks.

You can use whatever you like, its simply a tool to an end. If you understand the tool well, and have the vision to create, the presentation should be about your idea not about what built-in template is available. This is *especially* important in how an agency would look at the issue.

No *agency* from a mom/pop shop to a large corporation should want to use the default templates for any marketing materials or presentations if what they are trying to sell is a 'presentation' of materials themselves!

If you're talking about building the templates in iWork as a custom use, I haven't seen enough of it to understand how one would go about creating the template (or if its possible). Please chime in if someone knows how or has created custom templates from iWork (not just changing a single graphic from an existing template).

[iomatic]

Yeah, I know. Content is king, concept first, yadda yadda.

I make a big assumption that every designer/art director/media artist understands this always comes first, and the tools come second. I've given and heard that speech, so:

I'm talking more about time-to-market of materials (i.e., how fast can you draft something vs. PPT+Word, etc., inherent problems, design issues, etc. Importing/exporting and revisions take a long time when using multiple applications. I'm asking on a more tactical level.

[bluedog]

Originally Posted by iomatic

I'm asking on a more tactical level.

That's a good question. Anyone using this for their work?

[production_coordinator]

No, in fact, I created one amazing Keynote.app presentation and they LOVED IT... they then asked me to email it to them... and when I explained that they couldn't edit it, as it was in a format only my Mac could change... they became very frustrated. The same seems to go for just about everything.

I'll see VERY ugly Word documents being praised for how unique they look when I've created Quark templates for the same thing that are many times nicer... it's just that they can't use them (they don't have quark/indesign).

[CaptainHaddock]

I'm just a freelance designer, but I use Pages for all simple documents now (anything that doesn't need CMYK output).

Clients often want stuff they can edit in Word, but I don't really do that. It's too hard to make Word act like a layout program most of the time, and the typography is unpredictable.

Really, telling a client they'll need a Mac and iWork to edit a document is hardly any worse than telling them they'll need Quark or InDesign. They might already have a Mac, and if they don't, they can pick up a Mini plus iWork for about the same price as an Adobe product. If they don't want to invest in that, I get the business every time something needs changing or updating.

The moral, I guess, is to use the tools you need. You wouldn't tell a carpenter what screws to use while framing your house so you could adjust it yourself later on with a Philips screwdriver, would you?

P.S. Making beautiful presentations in Keynote is so much easier than in Powerpoint, and creating templates from scratch is also pretty simple. I've even designed templates in Keynote and exported them as Powerpoint files without problems.

[iomatic]

I have to agree with the Captain here, in that yeah, for presentation purposes, I don't see why a client would want to edit a brief or proposal, but they'll definitely want to change copy for layouts. Indeed, when you create a website, they (hopefully) don't insist on using FrontPage (though it's happened to me ), or Microsoft Publisher or some crap. Has anyone seen this? Usually, after running through a brief (f-f, or phone, always) I'll just send a document in PDF format anyway.

What about juggling numbers, schedules? I use iTaskX, which is easier to use than Merlin, and has tons of formatting options, including PDF output (via Print dialog), XML, Project, etc. It's great. I also have to use Excel to get my mind around budgets and other data. How do these work in terms pasting in/importing into Pages?

If the clients hire out for PowerPoint, it may be in your best interest to use PowerPoint, mostly because they always want to take it (in my experience) and screw it up, as usual.

I think iWork might work.